Join us on June 6 from 6-8:30 pm for a Bay Area Tropical Forest Network (BATFN) event held at the Goldman School of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley. The event will focus on Brazil’s cerrado, a tropical woodland ecosystem that is fast being destroyed for industrial ranches and farms. Dr. Arnaldo Carneiro, a researcher at National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), will present his findings on how companies can expand responsibly, while the Union of Concerned Scientists will provide an overview of the current political battle going over the future of the Brazilian Cerrado, which is home to 5 percent of the world’s remaining biodiversity. Over the past decade, vast areas of Brazil’s Cerrado have been converted from diverse native ecosystems into soy monocultures to feed the world’s growing demand. Today, deforestation rates are still higher in the Cerrado, particularly in Matopiba,...

About BATFN

BATFN is an informal social network in the Bay Area broadly interested in tropical forest conservation and ecology. We gather monthly, typically for a happy hour beverage in the Peninsula area. The event is free and we provide snacks and drinks. Think Green Drinks but with a focus on forests.

Our goal is to foster peer-to-peer networking in a relaxed atmosphere where ideas, data, and collaboration flow freely. This is a great opportunity to connect with media, scientists, economists, foundations, activists, artists and many others thinking about these issues. Everyone is welcome! It is a great way to get in touch with other people working on similar interests or to learn more about current issues and initiatives in forest conservation.